


The Puddle

by chockfullofsecrets



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:02:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29439426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chockfullofsecrets/pseuds/chockfullofsecrets
Summary: Mando’s helmet swept left. It swept right. Then, reluctantly, it swept back to her.“It’s a puddle,” he said flatly.Well. Yes, butrude. It was afavor.Cara tries to make her new friend have a little fun.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Cara Dune
Comments: 12
Kudos: 35
Collections: Fics_to_make_me_smile





	The Puddle

**Author's Note:**

> Because I think it might need to be said - 
> 
> My opinions of the character Cara Dune and the actress Gina Carano are very different - to be clear, I support the termination of Carano’s contract with Lucasfilm due to her antisemitic and transphobic comments. I think it’s both possible and reasonable to separate the character from the actor, but feel free to reach out off-anon if you feel different - I’m always willing to learn and improve in these matters.

“Where are we going?”

Ah, the suspicion. Cara had never met a Mandalorian before _the_ Mandalorian, but judging from his _everything_ the trait was inherited. She could hardly be offended when every scant bit of information that Mando revealed showed that distrust of the world to be completely justified.

Still, no reason to play nice. “Somewhere fun,” she tossed over her shoulder. 

Judgmental silence radiated from the beskar helmet in her periphery. 

“What, do you want me to tell you it’s going to be boring?”

“I want to know what we’re walking into,” he said, deadly serious. Clearly the man had never seen a pleasant surprise in his life. 

Then, softer and distinctly not in her direction, “No, you stay in there.”

...Right. More than one reason for caution, then. “Hey, you know I wouldn’t let anything happen to the gremlin. Just trust me.”

The helmet made the concession of a slightly less judgmental silence. She rolled her eyes and picked up the pace for the last stretch of their short hike.

“Okay, here.” She gestured forward to their destination, stepping into the small forest clearing and sighing happily as a warm blanket of direct sunlight hit her in the face. Sorgan was a nice enough planet, given that her original favorite no longer existed, but especially in the heavily forested regions the atmosphere teetered towards gloomy.

Mando’s helmet swept left. It swept right. Then, reluctantly, it swept back to her.

“It’s a puddle,” he said flatly.

Well. Yes, but _rude_. It was a _favor_.

She crossed her arms. “You won’t let the kid anywhere near the krill pits, so he can splash around in here instead. Omera said the village knows about this place; they take the littlest ones here before they learn to swim.” 

The kid in question, somewhat sulky for the past few days after being denied the right to chase frogs into the nearest drowning hazard, perked right up at the mention of krill.

Good work, gremlin. Now point that cuteness at your father. 

They all watched the shallow pool lap harmlessly against its edges, blown by the gusts of mild breeze rustling through the trees. Mando took one look at the kid’s ears quivering in excitement and pointedly looked away. “He’s too small.”

Cara crouched down and slapped her palm against the pebble-strewn bottom of the pool, raising a doubtful eyebrow in his direction as despite the splash everything above the lower third of her forearm remained bone dry. “This thing is smaller. Just put him in, he’ll like it.”

Mando looked back at the kid, clearly poised to refute her size comparison.

_Ba_ went said kid, right on cue, little claws scrabbling at the plastic of his carrier as he leaned towards the water. 

She didn’t bother to bite back her grin as Mando’s aggrieved sigh filled the clearing. “I’ll be watching him,” he warned, lifting the kid to the ground and helping him wiggle out of his robes. “Or you’ll watch him, and I’ll make some rounds -”

The kid grabbed one gloved finger and dragged the sap attached to it all the way to the edge of the pool before deigning to toddle in on his own. His little white undershirt poofed out around his ankles, big eyes getting impossibly bigger with muttered _aah_ s of glee. 

Mando stayed hunched at the edge, hands held out protectively as the kid plopped down and started smacking the water with all the force his tiny, tiny claws could muster. Cara sat down too, pulling her boots and socks off and sticking her feet in the cool water. “You like that, kid?” 

The kid purred distractedly, eyes flicking up to her before going back to his newest plaything. 

Well, that had worked out great. Next target, then. 

She turned to Mando. “You too, get in here. Boots off.”

Even balanced gracefully on the balls of his feet, the extra bulk of his armor and cape gave him the air of a giant bird whose egg had just rolled out from under him. “What?”

_Wa_ , the kid echoed, blinking guilelessly up at them. Mando swiveled anxiously back to him and Cara took the opportunity to press her case. “Come on, if something attacks us I’ll keep it busy while you get them back on. And don’t try to tell me that your creed extends to footwear.”

“It doesn’t,” Mando said slowly. This appeared to be a source of some regret for him. Cara waited.

He took one last long scan of the treeline and then reluctantly sat down and started unstrapping the spare ammunition from his shins. Cara had no idea how he’d managed to stuff two knives of that size up against his ankles, but she refused to ask and risk reminding him of some time when having them had been crucial to his survival. She’d steal his boots later and examine them if she had to.

Footwear stacked neatly to the side, Mando scooted up to her and slid his feet cautiously into the puddle. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it still surprised her to see humanoid legs sticking out from rolled up fabric.

The helmet swiveled in her direction. “What?”

Don’t say it. Don’t say it.

Of course she was going to say it. At least she already knew he didn’t offend easily.

She gestured to the kid. “I kind of thought you looked like him. You know, claws.”

The helmet took on a distinctly amused tilt. She wanted to stick her tongue out at it. “Where did you think I put the ears?”

“Shut up,” she huffed, dragging through silt as she nudged the sole of his foot with her toes, and - _oho_ , that was interesting.

Mando looked warily at her from where he had full-body-jolted almost a foot away. “It’s really not.”

There was a game of sorts that her shock trooper unit had played with its members unfortunate enough to react like _that_ from a single poke. She hadn’t thought of it in years past the odd reminisce, but she, obviously, had been great at it. 

Mando was fast, she’d give him that, but she already knew exactly what she was doing - he’d barely gotten both feet planted on the ground in preparation to stand before she grabbed the leg nearest her and _yanked_ , sending him toppling backwards. “You ticklish, Mando?” she teased, bracing her arms as he tried to kick free. 

The mockery made him kick a little harder, leg jerking frantically as he tried to pull it free, but at least he didn’t seem to be reaching for any concealed weapons.

“So,” she grinned, “how’s a rematch sound to you? We never got to finish that last brawl.”

“Dune, _no_ ,” he yelped. His fingers scrambled for the rifle strap on his chest as he tried to adjust it and get up, but she was already pulling his toes back so she could gleefully rake her fingertips over the exposed sole. 

Mando’s ire crested abruptly into a bark of laughter as she made contact, coordinated attempts to escape replaced with outright flailing. She’d been expecting him to try and hide his laughter more, but there it was ringing out loud and clear through his vocoder. Of course, with his helmet on, Mando couldn’t cover his mouth with his hands or bury his face in his shoulder the way she’d seen people do before. 

Which, in this particular case, let her hear her reticent Mandalorian breathlessly curse her out in what seemed like five or six different languages. Cute. 

“Well, that’s not very nice,” she told him, tickling lightly over the top of his captured foot. “You going to apologize?”

Mando looked uninclined to do so, even when she found a spot on the inner curve of his sole that made his entire leg shiver when she traced it with her nails. His low laugh exploded into high-pitched, desperate giggles, and Cara realized abruptly that she couldn’t even tell if he was smiling under there. 

A few seconds later, it became clear that he’d been plotting instead. The second he managed to kick hard enough to shift her fingers from that deadly spot, he struggled up onto his elbows and, bypassing the entire armory he was still wearing, wrenched his leg free and kneed her solidly in the chin. 

_Rude_. Well now she’d just have to keep going, wouldn’t she? She caught the next attempt at kneeing with her shoulder, getting a vice grip on the back of his thigh to lever his leg back down.

Mando _screamed_. 

Cara jerked back, convinced that she’d managed to dislocate something. “Shit! Okay, hold still-”

She pressed in closer to assess the damage and almost took another blow to the face as he flailed in panic. “No! Nononooo, dohon’t-”

Were. Were those? Giggles? Ticklish giggles from someone who _definitely_ had just gotten their death spot exposed? 

“Don’t what?” Recovering, she squeezed his thigh again and rocked back in smug satisfaction as his pleading gave way to another scream. “Of all the spots not to armor up, huh?”

Mando squawked indignantly at the suggestion that his shiny carapace was inadequate, then squawked some more as she pinched her way up the back of his leg towards his knee. “Aw, don’t be mad; you know you could use a good laugh. Hey, are you ticklish here too?”

She wormed her fingers into the back of his knee, which didn’t make him scream again but _did_ force him all the way back down to the ground as his entire body shook with helpless laughter. One leg flailed helplessly behind her - Cara looked back quickly to make sure they hadn’t somehow hurt the kid, but he was still upright and conscious and splashy in the quick glance she spared for him. 

She was pretty sure there was going to be water all over her back when they were done here, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Mando was laughing too hard to surrender even if he tried, and she was determined to keep it that way until she tickled the suspicion and anxiety right out of him. 

It was hard to tell when he was running out of breath, but as his kicking and squirming petered off she let him go with one last squeeze just above his knee. She was breathing a little hard herself - she hadn’t realized that she’d been laughing along with him. “You headed out for that patrol now?” she panted.

Mando lay there like the dead, one arm thrown weakly over his face, the rise and fall of his chest the only useful indicator of life. 

Negative, then. She was getting used to reading his silences. 

_Ba_ went a little voice behind her. She twisted to see the kid standing, both arms raised imperiously - in her direction. 

She wasn’t much for kids, but even she wasn’t heartless enough to ignore him. “He’s just taking a second to catch his breath,” she told him, picking him up under the arms. “Let’s get you dried off - or wait, here.”

Triumphantly, she plopped the soggy bundle of child onto Mando’s stomach and watched cool water trickle through the edges of his chestplate to the flight suit underneath. 

Accepting his defeat, Mando grumbled half-heartedly and he reached to tousle the kid’s ears. “You liked the water, huh? Maybe we can come back.”

_Aaa_ , the kid told him, producing a palmful of water to spatter over his helmet. 

Cara snorted and stuck her feet back into the water. If this was domesticity, maybe she could live with it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you're so inclined, come say hi on [tumblr](https://chockfullofsecrets.tumblr.com)!


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